Dear fellow students:

    Good private boarding schools do help you establish contact with companies who give a sense of social responsibility by offering work experience to high school students. This can also involve payment, but a minimum. In the summer after Year 11, I took up work experience twice in London, and I had a good opportunity to see how a public relations company operates and how an interior design company serves its clients.

    Work experience usually means working for one or two weeks for a company without pay to show you how people there work. You are usually assigned to receive instruction from an employee and you tag along with that employee to see how daily duties are carried out.

    You are offered simple tasks under the supervision of that employee. In one or two weeks, you may not learn a lot, but you do have an opportunity to understand how things operate in various industries.

    I was quite excited with the learning opportunities presented to me in my two work experience jobs. Although paid summer jobs for high school are not as readily available as the non-paying work experience, as long as you make an effort to set up arrangements ahead of time, there is no problem in finding paid opportunities. Through the school’s alumni offer, or even with help from your peers or parents, contacts are readily available.

    I took a summer job in London at Jones Lang LaSalle for a month over this summer, and learned a great deal. A large corporation on a multinational scale has a great system of training opportunities for those offered a summer job. I attended meetings just like an official employee, and was given leases to read so that I could understand lease terms.

    This helped me to write collection letters to tenants who were behind in the rent, or in financial terms, “clearing their outstanding balances.” I acquired so much real work experience.

    There are many opportunities out there, so try to reach out to maximize your high school experience in the United Kingdom. It is important to remain an active member of your school community, and to take the initiative when it comes to getting yourself involved in activities.

    I am sure that your parents will be very proud of you if you make the best use of the opportunities available to you, to justify the high tuition they have paid for you to study abroad.

    Yours fondly,

    Susan M B Chen

    Year 13 student at Downe House School